The prize money for this year’s Wimbledon has been increased by The All England Lawn Tennis from £34 million ($44.2 million USD) in 2018 to £38 million ($49.4 million USD) this year. This is an 11.76% increase. Early round losers will be notable gainers of this increase, for example, the prize for the first-round losers has been hiked almost fourfold, from £11,500 to £45,000.
Other notable gainers will be the British wildcard players who may not make it to the first round, nevertheless, they will make a very lucrative payday, which is perhaps more than what they will earn in their entire careers. Notably, Akira Santillan lost his cool after losing a tough match in the 2nd round of the qualifications. He lost Ruben Bemelmans on Wednesday 6-7 (5) 6-3 12-10. After the loss, the Australian had an extreme reaction which made headlines in sports columns all over the globe – he destroyed all his 5 rackets one after the other and left them behind.
The idea seems to be conceptually good for the overall welfare of all the participating players and a source of encouragement to them, however, some of the players may take undue advantage and may be tempted to play just for the sake of the prize money. Taking this possibility into account, Wimbledon has come up with a strict rule related to the participation in the tournament. If a player takes to the court with a pre-existing injury, runs the risk of being fined up to 100 percent of the prize money if the AELTC thinks that the player was not fit to take to the court.
Wimbledon 2019 – Prize Money breakdown
| Year 2019 | Prize Money £ GBP | Prize Money $ USD | Prize Money € EUR | Year on Year Increase vs 2018 |
| Winner | £2,350,000.00 | $2,983,748 | €2,645,874.97 | 4.44% |
| Runner-up | £1,175,000.00 | $1,491,874 | €1,322,937.48 | 4.44% |
| Semifinal | £588,000.00 | $746,572 | €662,031.69 | 4.63% |
| Quarterfinal | £294,000.00 | $373,286 | €331,015.85 | 4.63% |
| Round 4 | £176,000.00 | $223,464 | €198,159.15 | 7.98% |
| Round 3 | £111,000.00 | $140,934 | €124,975.37 | 11.00% |
| Round 2 | £72,000.00 | $91,417 | €81,065.11 | 14.29% |
| Round 1 | £45,000.00 | $57,136 | €50,665.69 | 15.38% |
WIMBLEDON PRIZE MONEY HISTORY (Prize money started in 1968)
| Year | Wimbledon Prize Money | % Increase |
| 1968 | £26,150.00 | |
| 1969 | £33,370.00 | 27.61% |
| 1970 | £41,650.00 | 24.81% |
| 1971 | £37,790.00 | -9.27% |
| 1972 | £50,330.00 | 33.18% |
| 1973 | £52,400.00 | 4.11% |
| 1974 | £97,100.00 | 85.31% |
| 1975 | £114,875.00 | 18.31% |
| 1976 | £157,740.00 | 37.31% |
| 1977 | £222,540.00 | 41.08% |
| 1978 | £279,023.00 | 25.38% |
| 1979 | £277,066.00 | -0.70% |
| 1980 | £293,464.00 | 5.92% |
| 1981 | £322,136.00 | 9.77% |
| 1982 | £593,366.00 | 84.20% |
| 1983 | £978,211.00 | 64.86% |
| 1984 | £1,461,896.00 | 49.45% |
| 1985 | £1,934,760.00 | 32.35% |
| 1986 | £2,119,780.00 | 9.56% |
| 1987 | £2,119,780.00 | 0.00% |
| 1988 | £2,612,126.00 | 23.23% |
| 1989 | £3,133,749.00 | 19.97% |
| 1990 | £3,819,730.00 | 21.89% |
| 1991 | £4,010,970.00 | 5.01% |
| 1992 | £4,416,820.00 | 10.12% |
| 1993 | £5,048,450.00 | 14.30% |
| 1994 | £5,682,170.00 | 12.55% |
| 1995 | £6,025,550.00 | 6.04% |
| 1996 | £6,465,910.00 | 7.31% |
| 1997 | £6,884,952.00 | 6.48% |
| 1998 | £7,207,590.00 | 4.69% |
| 1999 | £7,595,330.00 | 5.38% |
| 2000 | £8,056,480.00 | 6.07% |
| 2001 | £8,525,280.00 | 5.82% |
| 2002 | £8,825,320.00 | 3.52% |
| 2003 | £9,373,990.00 | 6.22% |
| 2004 | £9,707,280.00 | 3.56% |
| 2005 | £10,085,510.00 | 3.90% |
| 2006 | £10,380,710.00 | 2.93% |
| 2007 | £11,282,710.00 | 8.69% |
| 2008 | £11,812,000.00 | 4.69% |
| 2009 | £12,550,000.00 | 6.25% |
| 2010 | £13,725,000.00 | 9.36% |
| 2011 | £14,600,000.00 | 6.38% |
| 2012 | £16,060,000.00 | 10.00% |
| 2013 | £22,560,000.00 | 40.47% |
| 2014 | £25,000,000.00 | 10.82% |
| 2015 | £26,750,000.00 | 7.00% |
| 2016 | £28,100,000.00 | 5.05% |
| 2017 | £31,600,000.00 | 12.46% |
| 2018 | £34,000,000.00 | 7.59% |
| 2019 | £38,000,000.00 | 11.76% |
BIG BUCKS AT WIMBLEDON
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| Embed from Getty Images |
